Mockingjay Flipped
by luciferlovesbacon
Summary: AU: After Katniss breaks the arena, all chaos breaks loose. This is the story if Peeta had been rescued from the arena instead of Katniss and everything he does to save her. (Peeta's POV) Please review, I want opinions :)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Katniss. She is my first thought as I regain consciousness. I seem to be paralysed. I cannot move. This worries me, not knowing my surroundings. I need to find Katniss. I need to gather my thoughts.

We were in the arena, that I am sure of. Katniss and Johanna had gone to fulfil Beetee's plan and take the wire down to the water when the coil went loose. I was just about to run after them when Finnick, anticipating my next move, tackled me from the side. Briefly winded, I lay still under the pressure of Finnick's well-built body. The only reason I managed to escape his grasp was the sound of a heavy footstep heading our way, which couldn't be Katniss or Johanna, they would never be that loud. This means it is Chaff, Enobaria or Brutus – or maybe all three.

It seems Finnick has also come to that conclusion as he stands and holds his trident in an attack position, so following his lead; I remove my knife from my belt, and take stand beside him. I then turn around, remembering Beetee behind us, just in time to see him run full speed- well as fast as he could go in his condition anyways- into the force field.

"Beetee, no!" I shout, though it's no use, his now electrified body comes flying back from the force field and slams to the ground. I rush over to inspect the damage, as I know it could be fatal, as Finnick stands guard. I check his pulse for a beat that seems to be there, but weak. I survey the area for some reason for him to cross the line Katniss drew around the force field. I'm just about to give up when I spot the knife wrapped in wire that has fallen a few feet away from Beetee's body.

"Peeta, quick, we need to move," Finnick whispers and before I can reason with him, he drags me up and half carries, half guides me away from the lightening tree, fast. A canon signalling the death of a tribute went off. Reading the panic on my face, Finnick says "Don't worry, I will go find Katniss and Johanna, you stay here and keep concealed", as he shoves me into some sort of plant a bit too roughly for my liking.

"No, I will come with you." I try to argue as I attempt to stand up but he just pushes me back down again and holds me.

"Peeta, you have to promise me you won't leave this spot"

I stare him down but he doesn't seem to loosen his grip. We are locked like this for what seems like hours, when in reality it was probably no longer than ten seconds, our gazes never shifting; I begin to realise this is not an argument I can win.

"Fine," I moan, "I will stay. As long as you bring Katniss to me, deal?"

"Deal." And with that, Finnick swiftly and silently runs off into the night leaving me alone with my thoughts.

This doesn't last for long though as I can't bear to sit still and wonder whether that cannon was Katniss. I decide to have a little walk around, but staying in the area Finnick left me in as I do trust that he is a man of his word, and will come back to me. I hear a scream but I do not bother to run as this scream is too low pitched to be Katniss. What does get me running is second cannon. Two dead, one could be Katniss. As I am running I cannot help myself but to scream out my name.

To my joy, I hear her reply "Peeta! Peeta!". I am so exhausted that it takes me a minuet to figure out what she is doing. She's luring the careers to her to protect me. I came into this arena determined to get her out alive, but she is making it ever so difficult. My only hope now is that I find her before the others so I quicken my pace. That's when it happens.

I can just about see through the overgrowth, a single almost tile like piece falling from the sky, behind it, a normal sky instead of this strange palate of colours in the arena. Arena. It's the arena. The arena is falling. More and more pieces start to break of the follow the next. As they crash onto the arena floor you can see sparks flying out everywhere. Two more cannons go off.

The rest is a blur. I know at some point I saw Johanna stumbling towards me (she must have been attacked or got hit in the mad scramble of falling objects) but then it all goes blank and I woke up here, strapped to this table as I now realise.

I can now slightly move my fingers and begin to be able to open my eyes. My first sight is a blurry light, too painful for my eyes, so I shut them again. Small steps, I tell myself. I am now gaining some movement in my leg, the real one of course. Once I am aware that my whole body is working, I brace myself for another go at opening my eyes. This time when I see the light, I realise that it is bearable as long as I don't look directly at it. This is good. My body and mind seem to be working. Now I just need to find out where I am.

As lifting myself up would be useless and a waste of energy and I can feel the tight straps securing me to the bed, I carefully turn my head to the side, trying to take in as much about the room as possible. To my right is a clean bed with fresh white sheets, so I must be lying on one identical to that as they stretch out as far as I can see past it. Every wall is blank, no windows nor doors, no decorative wall hangings; it makes me loathe the place. Gathering that I cannot gain any information to my whereabouts from this side, I turn my head the other way. As soon as I meet the cold, grey, seam eyes that glare down at me, I regret turning my head. No, it is not Katniss' bright, sea-foam eyes I see. The person I am looking at is Haymitch Abernathy.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I don't know what to think. I need to say something; we can't just be locked in this endless stare forever. One of us has to say something. After another few moments of silence I decide it has to be me who makes the first move.

"Where is she?" I politely yet sternly ask, making sure there is no sign of forgiveness towards Haymitch in my voice, whatever is going on he has lied to me in some way.

"God boy, don't you want to know where you are first?" he snickers. It sounds like a woeful joke to me, but I can tell straight away that he is sober, so there must be something wrong.

"Haymitch, where is she?" I repeat.

"She's in the Capitol, they got her, Johanna and Enobaria-" he hesitates when he sees my puzzled expression, I am not trying to hide my emotions here as I am sure we are off camera by now, over wise Haymitch wouldn't of referred to Katniss being in the capitol as _they got her_. I try to speak but cannot find the right words. From Haymitch's reactions, I probably made some kind of awful, painful mumble, "I am sorry, Peeta."

This is what triggers up the boiling rage inside me.

"You're sorry!" I shout at him, "All you can say is that you're sorry! You promised me, Haymitch. You promised me you would get her out alive, now she's in the hands of the Capitol probably being tortured and maybe even killed as we speak. I love her. You know that. How could you let this happen?" I have to stop my speech there as my voice is beginning to croak, either from my fatigue or my emotions; I can't show weakness in front of Haymitch now.

"Peeta," He embraces my arm with his hand in a loving way which only reminds me of my father who will most likely be dead by now, so I try to shrug it off but the straps containing me to this bed prevent that, "I will get her back, I promise."

"I don't believe you."

"I swear to you, boy."

"Prove it."

"I can't."

"Then I cannot trust you."

Haymitch, knowing he won't win an argument against me, decides to leave me. As he exits I hear him say to the attendant who has now appeared with a glass of water "Take the prick to the control room" and then disappears through a whole that appears in the wall.

The attendant unstraps me and allows be to sit up, slowly as I am still quite nauseous from my encounter with Haymitch, and hands me the glass of water. Although the water is the first cold liquid I have had since before I entered the arena, it was unsatisfying. I then realise that the only thing that will satisfy me now is Katniss, safe and hand in hand with me.

I am led through tight, bland hallways until a dead-end appears. I am about to ask whether we went the wrong way when the attendant presses his scrubby hand against the clean stainless steel. It feels wrong, mixing workers hands with this environment; I wonder who this attendant really is. My thoughts are however, cut short as the wall slides open exposing a room full of flashing buttons and interactive screens all over the world with a large, metal table in the centre. As I take in the room I realise something, this room is not empty of people. There are many people of all different shapes, sizes and diversities running around. This is a rare sight in Panem as (apart from when the Hunger Games take place) mixing of the Districts is strictly forbidden so seeing people who are obviously from separate Districts all in one room is a suspicious sight.

Sitting across the table from where I stand in one of the oversized chairs is a young man with bronze hair, and I can see straight away that under as the scars and bruises and bandages, that this is the handsome Finnick Odair.

"Finnick?" I ask, he looks up straight away with a sense of urgency on his face. It must take his a few seconds to place me under all my injuries and my horse voice, "Finnick, what's going on?"

As I trust Finnick, I thought he may be gentle and give me an answer that I am striving for, the answer that everything is fine and this will all be over and I will wake up tomorrow morning with Katniss by my side, unharmed. But, no. Instead he says, "Sit down Peeta, I will go find Plutarch."

"Heavensbee?" I reply.

"Yes, he's on our side-" Finnick pauses noticing my confusion, "It will all make sense, just trust me." Then he rushes off through another invisible door in the wall.

What an earth is Plutarch Heavensbee, head gamemaker, the one who put us all through the pain in his clock faced arena, doing here? Why is of all people, Finnick Odair, associating with him? Where am I exactly? Who are these people scampering around the room pressing random buttons and talking so much I cannot focus on an individual voice?

These are questions that I have to find out myself, sitting here is not helping. So, I stand and I exit the way Finnick left and no one attempts to stop me.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

There is a small corridor that leads to another set of invisible doors which, luckily, have stayed open since Finnick passed through them. As I cautiously walk in, I notice that it is an exact replica of the other room, however, there is one major difference which is the fact that the number of people has dropped to just 3, Finnck, Plutarch and Haymitch.

"Peeta, I told you to wait in the other room." Finnick says to me with a hint of annoyance.

I reply with a simple, "I got bored", but I know this is fooling no one. The three people in this room are not like the gullible snobs from the Capitol; I must try to convince them. "I don't trust anyone in that room, I don't know who they are and where I am… so, I have decided that I am not moving until I get some answers" I say as I take a seat at the table.

There's a deep, exhausted sigh coming from Haymitch. I get my first proper look at him since before the arena, as I was too mad to focus at our last meeting. He is surprisingly sober, dressed in a suit but he has obviously been wrestling at the tie and shirt to try and escape the tight, uncomfortable fabric. His eyes are wide and alert, however the dark circles underneath suggest that he hasn't had a nap in a long time. I almost start to pity him, but then I remember why I am here in the first place.

"Peeta, you have to promise to let me explain the full story without interruption if you want to understand that state of our world at this current time." Plutarch says calmly without hesitation.

I mutter, "Yeah, sure… I promise. Just like how you promised that Katniss would survive instead of me, Haymitch."

A sickly laugh is released from Haymitch and I stand up, prepared to knock the bastard out, when Finnick swiftly pushes me back down – this makes me realise how weak I actually am and decide that violence is not going to help me right now.

Plutarch continues, ignoring my comment, "I will start at the beginning then. You are part of a plan to take down the Capitol. Everyone on this hovercraft is part of a secret organisation that has been around for years, becoming stronger, in order to start a rebellion. What we were waiting for was leader, a spark, for the other districts to look up to. That's when you and Katniss come into the story. That trick with the berries? That's the defiance we needed to start up the fire that will hopefully uproar across Panem. We couldn't tell you because we had to convince President Snow that you two were the innocent star-crossed lovers that could not live without each other. Many of the victors in the Quell were in on the plan, they were there to protect you and then, when the time comes, help in Beetee's plan to break the force field and get you out. Sadly, we had no chance to get everyone out otherwise our very few hovercrafts would be shot down and then entire plan would go to shit. That's why Katniss is not here-" I notice Plutarch pause to take in my reaction to this news, so I keep my face blank, not trusting any Capitol citizen (let alone a head game maker) to see my emotions. He continues, "We are on our way to District 13. No, it was not destroyed in the dark days. The Capitol left it alone because it possessed nuclear bombs. It has been thriving underground ever since. Our base is there. Our people over there are making plans as we speak about how to get the other victors out of the Capitol and back to us, safely."

There is a long silence after this. My head is exploding with new information and I want to ask a million questions but I limit myself to just one.

So, I ask, "Can I pick up my father from District 12? He's the only member of my family that cares about me." After my long, painful childhood with my mum beating me and her favouritism of my two older brothers who just saw me as a toy they could push around, my dad was the only one there to support me. If I am going anywhere without Katniss, I want him by my side.

Haymitch and Plutarch share a worried glance before Haymitch replies with, "Peeta… your father and your entire family are dead. Straight after the games, the Capitol sent bombs onto District 12, killing all but around 900 evacuees that Gale managed to get out in time. He was very heroic for rescuing those people and keeping them safe in the woods until thirteen could send hovercrafts to collect them. However, your family being from town, they did not have time to reach safety. I am truly sorry."

Noticing the worried glances I'm getting from Finnick, I know I should be upset. However, due to my lack of security and love from my own family, I am more relieved than depressed at their loss. Maybe I might miss my father, but now is not the time for grieving, I will grieve when I have Katniss in my arms.

"Okay," I say, "Straight to thirteen then." My reaction has my desired effect on Plutarch, shock, but Haymitch and Finnick seem to understand.

The rest of the journey to thirteen is uneventful. I sit in the control room in silence as people I don't know and I don't care about occasionally come up to me to give me updates on the now called, war. Uprisings here. Attacks there. Whatever major point the rebels have been able to take over now.

Once arriving at thirteen, I am issued compartment 214 and told to spend the night in this room and then report to Command after breakfast tomorrow morning. I do not know what Command is or how to get there but I will probably ditch it anyway.

My room contains a double bed and a chest of draws. In the draws I find 2 pairs of plain grey clothes and a pair of worn out boots. After closer inspection I notice that one pair of the clothes are meant to be worn as pyjamas so I take a shower and get dressed into them, not wanting to spend another second in my fog burned, dampened wetsuit I had to wear in the arena.

I crawl under the covers of the bed and slowly fall asleep to only be woken by terrible nightmares. Katniss being tortured. Screaming. Crying. Dying. My father appears, burning. More screaming. More crying. More dying. Katniss returning safe yet in love with Gale Hawthorne, the beloved hero of District 12. Rebels fighting against the ruthless Capitol mutts. Screaming. Crying. Dying.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The next few days can only be described as complete, agonising, hell. After I wake every morning I have to put my arm into a slot in the wall that prints out a personalised schedule which I have to follow. As I am still only 17, I am meant to be taking classes in thirteen's small education section, however I spend most of my time in training or in special weaponry with Beetee and Finnick, and we make plans for a Capitol attack to get Katniss and the other victors out. Finnick is in a bad shape. Post-traumatic stress from the games on top of the fact that the Capitol got his beloved Annie, the only person he truly cares for. Beetee has also been battered around and is confined to a wheelchair and me with only one real leg and countless injuries from the games; we get many sorrowful looks walking into the dining hall this morning.

Due to thirteen being small, underground and cut off from the Capitol and the other districts, supplies are short. Everything is rationed, including our clothes which are all identical and all worn out by someone before us. My issued boots fit too loosely and, suggested by the way in which he walks, Finnicks are too tight. After being served by proportional amount of tasteless food (according to my height, weight and schedule for the day) , I take a seat at the table we always claim; 'we' being Finnick, Beetee, Haymitch, Prim, Katniss' mother and even Gale Hawthorne and his family join us. Conversation is awkward and pointless, but I join in anyway, so not to worry , sweet, innocent Prim. The girl Katniss adores so much. I can't abandon her now Katniss is… occupied, so I have become much closer to the girl with the duck tail.

Prim breaks the awkward silence, "Oh Peeta, I do hope you are allowed to carry on baking, a nice fresh cheese bun would make such a nice change to-" she stops suddenly, noticing that the food she just mentioned was always Katniss' favourite for me to bake.

I would say something to comfort her but the pain builds up a fortress around my speech and we fall back into that awkward silence once again.

Later that day, Gale and I are pulled out of our conversation with Beetee about the plan and told to go up to Command. As we walk up in silence, I begin to analyse the seam boy that Katniss is so fond of. He's ruggedly handsome, surely he could get any girl anywhere, yet he goes after Katniss. I know I should hate him but I don't. I have no reason to. He looks after his family, he respects the lives of others, he's determined to rebel and he does truly care for Katniss. I guess we are quite similar after all; in different circumstances we could probably even be friends.

We enter a room labelled "COMMAND". As we walk in the entire room goes silent and heads turn towards us.

"Soldiers Mellark and Hawthorne, take a seat." A petit, grey haired lady says from the head of the table (she addresses us as soldiers, the same respect as everyone over the age of 14 gets in thirteen). The lady continues, "I am President Coin, I run District 13 and the rebellion and I suggest you do as I say and take a seat." She says with a hint of anger to the fact we hesitated at fulfilling her order. I think as Katniss would, and I instantly decide not to trust President Coin.

As we sit, I take in my surroundings, just like Katniss (and I presume Gale) would. Command is a large room with a big, round table at the centre. The walls are covered with screens projecting the status of the current war; however the room seems to be a bare grey colour, just like the rest of thirteen.

"Welcome, now I'm not one to waste time and words so I am going to say what I have to say and leave. I am a very busy women." Coin looks around to check we are all listening, we being Gale, Finnick, Beetee, Haymitch, Plutarch, and a group of soldiers. She continues, "Katniss and the other tributes are in serious danger and need to get out of the Capitol as soon as possible. We do not know what the Capitol may be doing to them but we suspect they are torturing them trying to get information out of them about the rebellion. Fortunately, we have the brilliant mind of Beetee on our side and he has located the captives in the Capitol and we are planning a rescue attack currently. Mellark, the hospital and training camp say you are fit to go into battle, do you feel ready?"

"Yes," I reply without hesitation, "Anything for Katniss." With saying that I get shot sympathetic looks from across the room.

"I'll go in as well" Haymitch says, this is a shock to everyone judging by their facial expressions, "We need the girl out and I'm not letting Peeta go in without me, I'm his mentor after all."

"Okay, Soldier Abernathy," replies, obviously un-phased by Haymitch's decision, "Hawthorne, will you be joining?"

Gale replies with a simple yet stern nod.

"Good, we need your sharp eye out there. Finnick, unfortunately the hospital has decided you are unfit to go into this, but we have another job for you that could be the difference between our success and our failure." Finnick's face drops at this news as he will not be able to go rescue his love, Annie, how also got captured in case she knew of the rebellion. "Beetee, would you like to explain your idea to Finnick?"

"Of course, President." Beetee agonisingly shuffles his body in his wheelchair to face Finnick and continues in his professional tone, "I have found a way to break into the Capitols broadcasts. What we need from you is some propos of you talking about the war and the pro-rebel side of it. Then, we can broadcast them just before they go in on the rescue, so the Capitol is distracted. Is this okay with you?"

Finnick's face lights up at this idea, "Yes." He replies.

Trying to lighten the mood I add, "Finnick, they are gonna make you pretty for the cameras again!" which causes an unmistakable wide smile of sudden joy across his face.

"Well, this has been quite the successful meeting, but I have to attend to over duties now. Thank you all for coming, Plutarch, I am leaving you in control of this project from now on. I beg you not to fail me." And with her last words eerily floating around the room, President Coin left in silence.


End file.
